California apostille

California apostille

Good news for those planning to legalize their document in the future for use in the Dominican Republic!

It finally happened! The Dominican Republic, starting with the early September of 2009, will be accepting apostilles as a method of legalization of document. This replaces the foreign certification procedure which was applied previously.

Of course one may wonder about the significance of the fact and why should anyone care. However, as practice shows getting an apostille is a more simplified procedure and does not require the authentication of the document by the consulate or embassy of the Dominican Republic. This in turn greatly reduces the processing time and the cost of the documents.

In recent years in the United States it became a common trend to have a destination wedding, and the Dominican Republic is one of many countries on the list of popular destinations. As the result the country may boost it’s popularity even further due to lower costs of the process and the time required to get all the documents together.

 Another side concerns business activities which are subjected to the very same benefits as the process above, faster with minimal fees, which fits perfectly into the business environment of the United States.

There is nothing complex or puzzling about that stage. However, as I see it, there are potential issues which one may face in the long run when notarizing documents.

As some of the articles on the web mentioned there is a number of notaries who supposedly have extra letters on their stamp or in fact missing them.

If you ever had something notarized you are most likely aware of how the stamp looks like. So in the line where it says John B Doe the notary public some of them have the middle initial and some do not. However, when it comes to authenticating such signature you have to be on the look out for those who have filled with the middle-initial but their stamp does not bare it, or in reverse they have the initial on file but it is omitted on the stamp.

Even though this may seem as insignificant issue, it is in fact a big deal. When you bring such document for further authentication, Apostille or Foreign Certification your request will be denied due to the fact that the name of the notary will not match the file.

Now you will have two options that you can pick to proceed further. One is to have an extra copy of the document and resign it in front of a nearby notary public and resubmit the document for further authentication.

Or go back to the notary that made the mistake and have them correct the extra/missing letter.

First option may result into the same dilemma with the new notary.

Second option may be more time consuming, so depending you time constrains ad the availability of a spare copy you’ll have to make that determination.

There is a positive side to the issue. This steps serves to protect both individuals and corporations against fraudulent activities since it verifies all the information about the notary on file in governmental institution with the information on the notary stamp. Yes, this does include a signature.

Unfortunately, I have had a bad or even embarrassing experience a while ago in New York, might be the reason I moved, when I went to authenticate notary signature and was rejected due to the fact that signature did not match the one they had on file. I felt like I was forging signatures, was not a pleasant experience.  So I was given a file, I went back to that notary, had her resign the document, and went back.

The Power of Attorney, as I mentioned before can fall into two categories either personal or corporate. Then the subcategories divide even further, but we will not discuss each type in details here. However, I feel that is worth mentioning that Powers of Attorney can be General, Special, Durable and so forth.

General Power of Attorney is very broad and provides extensive powers to the person or organization you appoint as your agent. These powers usually include, but are not limited to, handling banking transactions, entering safety deposit boxes, buying and selling property, and entering into contracts.

Commonly, the Power of Attorney,  is drafted to include only specific powers which do not exceed those needed to take very specific actions. For instance, if you need to open a bank account your appointee does not need the power to sell/buy property on your behalf.

When drafting such document one has to be highly specific about the desired actions and powers granted to the attorney-in-fact in order to avoid any posible complications. 

Unless the document is signed and properly legalized it is not valid therefor, the granter have time to check and re-check the documents and powers in order to make all the necessary corrections beforehand. Other wise, recalling a Power of Attorney may become a very frustrating and time consuming process.

General Power of Attorney is seldom issued document due to the disadvantages of the array of powers it provides. There are cases that one may easily find on the Internet when such document was issued and the powers were abused even by the most trusted individuals like close relatives. Thus it is not advised to include any unnecessary powers.

The spotlight section will discuss and examine different types of documents which one may encounter when conduction activities outside of the United States, this includes both personal and business affairs.

There are different type of resolutions however their general concept is very similar, to state that one or a number o various actions were planned and agreed upon by a governing body of the company. As one may have already assumed, Resolutions are corporate documents and I cannot think of a way to use it as an individual.

Often, resolutions are needed then an entity plans to take an action and as such serves as a foundation for the entire process. Lets assume the company plans to open a bank account in Qatar. They are asked to present a number of documents by the foreign authority in order to establish the eligibility of such action. First of all the authorities in Qatar will have to verify that the named company does exist and complies with the laws in the country of it’s origin. Along with that there will be another process to establish the fact that the company at hand does in fact plan to open that bank account and not someone trying to open an account on behalf of the company out of personal interests. This is where the Resolution comes in place. As I look at it is serves as a foundation of the building. 

A properly drafted Resolution will establish that the company’s governing body had a meeting on the set date and concluded that the company will conduct specific actions in specific country. They will then issue all other supporting documents to built up their case and reassure the foreign authorities that all of the steps are fully authorized by the company.

Without the Resolution all other documents like Powers of Attorney, Certificates and Affidavits will not be valid due to the fact that there will be no proof that the company does in fact agreed upon issuing the Power of Attorney to the particular individual.

A significant number of students currently attending Colleges and Universities in the United States are curious about experiencing foreign culture and education first hand, and not from the TV. However, some never get the chance to do so during their course of study. Here’s a quick guide to documents which one may need to attend a foreign school. 

First of all, you will have to determine in which country you wish to enroll. Then you will have to contact the University and ask them for a complete list of documents that they will require from you.

When it comes to Diplomas and/or Transcripts there are two different ways to go:

One is to request a notarized copy from the Registrar’s Office in your school and then proceed with legalization

Two is to have a notarized copy made.

Both ways are commonly used, however, not all countries accept both or either. You will have to verify with the school officials of your country about which process they need. Due to various exploits of legalization procedure there has been a number of diplomas issued by so called “Diploma Mills” thus many countries have set up special bodies which authenticate the diplomas/transcripts before they are presented in the target country.

Another potential issue is the type of legalization procedure. As described in one of the posts here you may need an apostille or foreign certification. This can be done only when and if you know the target country. In case you are still thinking it is best not to proceed any further just yet. However, there are some exceptions. For instance, you have two or three countries in mind and they are all part of Hague Convention. Lets say you picked Germany, France and Italy, then you can get an apostille before you pick a country, this will not matter. However, if some of the countries on your list are not part of the Convention while some are getting document legalized will automatically rule out a number of your choices. For example, one of the countries is Netherlands and the other one is Bangladesh, you get an apostille on the document, thus narrowing your choice to only one country, since Bangladesh does not accept apostille.

Other than that the process should not be extremely complicated. After all, there are many others who use their U.S documents abroad every day, whether it is educational credentials or business documents.

Today, I would like to briefly discuss different types of documents that can be legalized for use abroad.

As I see it there are two general categories Personal and Business.

Personal documents, as the name implies, are those which deal with the individual. Most common sub category are the vital documents like Birth , Marriage, Divorce, and Death Certificates. Other varieties are wills, powers of attorney and numerous affidavits which are the self-created documents unlike their counterparts name above. 

Business documents can also be divided into two subcategories, just as the personal ones. First there are documents which come from the local or federal authorities. Others are the created documents which deal with the corporate activities and may include Powers of Attorney, Resolutions, Certificates, Affidavits and so forth.

All the document that are issued by the different bodies of the government have to be certified copies bearing seals and signatures of the the issuing authorities, due to the fact that plain photocopy will not suffice.

For the created documents they first of all have to be signed by the appropriate person. In other words, a power of attorney that is coming from Jane Doe has to be signed by that same Jane Doe in order to be valid. Also, these types of documents have to be notarized before in order to take effect. Only after all that the document can be submitted for legalization.

There are two different procedures when it comes to legalizing the documents. One is the apostille which is described in a separate post. Another one is Foreign Certification.

Foreign Certification is completed for those countries which are not part of the Hague Convention of 1961. There is a significant difference in the procedure itself. First of all when you request a Certification the attached page looks different, also, with an apostille the attached page is the final product of legalization. The Certification however, has to be submitted for further legalization.

Once the state level legalization is complete it is best to check with the target authorities which step is next. Some countries require it to be done by the Federal Government some do not. In both case the final authority to legalize the document will be either Consulate or Embassy of that country.

Things to look out for:

(i) When you submit your document for legalization make sure to indicate in which country it will be used, this is done to help you determine which process you need. Also, California is one of the few states where the designated country name still appears on the apostille. 

(ii) Check with target authorities to determine level of legalization State vs Federal.

(iii) Check all the fees of the process and the payment method which is accepted at each step. There are countless examples of when people come in and try to pay with say Credit Card or Personal Check and those methods are not accepted by one or another authority thus resulting in time losses and delays in processing as well as the frustration for the individual.

First of all let us determine what a notary public is?

Basic duties of a Notary include but are not limited to: witnessing signatures, establishing the identity of the signer and so forth. Simply they notarize your documents and make sure you are who you say you are.

The requirements outlined in our state are relatively simple. One has to be at least 18 years of age (There’s no maximum age set), be a legal resident of the State of California, must complete the course of study approved by Secretary of State, satisfactorily complete and pass a written examination prescribed by the Secretary of State, and successfully pass a background check.

For more complete list of requirements and steps please refer to the Secretary of State web-site.